Our Community School Launched ☄️

Introduction to the We Here Community School. Public domain music, "Cold Killa," MK2. Learn more: https://www.wehere.space/school Slide text: 1. We Here Community School - Personal and professional development classes, webinars, and downloads by BIPOC, for everyone. 2. We couldn't help but notice some things about online continuing studies courses... 3. "Diversity" classes that seem to gloss over systemic racism & oppression. 4. Not enough folks from Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC) communities teaching or featured on syllabi. 5. No cost options, particularly for people paying out-of-pocket. 6. So we built the change we wanted to see... 7. ...We Here Community School! 8. Our mission... provide a learning community with opportunities for personal and professional development based in anti-racist pedagogy, as well as recognizing and acknowledging systemic racism and oppression. 9. We seek to... Provide educational content designed to center, uplift, and celebrate BIPOC... 11. ...created and taught by BIPOC, for everyone. 12. With pricing based on who is funding, we provide a lower cost for those paying out-of-pocket. 13. Not everyone has a professional development budget. We want affordable educational opportunities, AND pay BIPOC for their knowledge and labor. 14. So our courses will offer tiered pricing and we'll provide scholarships whenever we can. 15. Example from a 5-week course with two instructors*: $175 personal payment (no reimbursement); $250 institutional payment. 16. *Pricing depends on the number of weeks and instructors. 17. Want to enroll or learn more? 18. Visit: https://wehere.space/school 19. Want to stay up-to-date on what we offer? 20. Subscribe to our 'what's good' newsletter - https://wehere.space 21. Thanks for watching. Questions? Let us know! us@wehere.space, https://wehere.space

Some of Team We Here’s biggest dreams included our very own personal and professional development program. We grew tired of seeing “diversity” webinars and courses that barely scratched the surface of systemic racism and oppression. We also wanted a way to pay BIPOC for their experience, knowledge, and skills. This is how the Community School was seeded.

The We Here Community School seeks to provide a learning community with opportunities for personal and professional development based in anti-racism pedagogy, as well as recognizing and acknowledging systemic racism and oppression.

We launched with the course “Just What is Critical Race Theory and What’s It Doing in LIS?” with Sofia Leung and Jorge Lopez-McKnight, editors of the forthcoming book Knowledge Justice: Disrupting Library and Information Studies through Critical Race Theory (2021 MIT Press), which includes “a community of 27 BIPOC scholars contributing necessary alternatives to dominant ways of being, knowing, and acting in archives and libraries.”

The course is a 6-week, 5-meeting synchronous course that will take place between June 22 - July 31. It sold out in one week (but folks can join the Waitlist), so we hope to offer this version of the course again the future, but Sofia and Jorge would also like to lead a 201 version, so stay tuned ☺️

Sofia and Jorge have generously offered to fund one individual enrollment by having the amount removed from their base pay. One full enrollment for an individual is available for BIPOC.

BIPOC who would like to be considered, please email us@wehere.space with Subject Line: “Application for CRT course scholarship,” the following:

• How you identify your race or ethnicity.

• A brief (300 words or fewer) statement of financial need.

• A brief (500 words or fewer) description of how you hope to incorporate what you would learn in this class into your work (personal or professional).

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